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Working from a daily to do list will enhance your productivity immensely and give you a sense of accomplishment. This is especially true if it’s done in diary form because you will have tangible proof of how you have spent your time.

The brain seeks completion. This is how we get addicted to things like video games. There is a task before us. We can’t stop until it’s completed. Unfortunately once that is done, we are off on a new quest that’s even harder so it gets harder and harder to stop. Not to mention that games are fun so this is also reinforcing.

The brain’s search for completion is also why we worry. When things aren’t finished, we can find ourselves thinking instead of sleeping or doing! This can create anxiety when we delay and delay and delay. Having a to do list is a way of saying to your brain, “I’ve got this. It’s on the list. You can chill now.”

So how to do it? I create a running to do list that has items added throughout the day. I check them off as they are finished. At the end of the day I organize items into the following categories: Must complete today, Must start today, and Must advance today.

The items on the “Must complete today” list come first. I can’t relax with a deadline over my head. Once I get those things out of the way the rest of the day is easier.

Next I move on to the “Must start today” list because the final list is not as urgent. As long as I do something with each of those items, it meets the goal of “advancing” so I can literally rest easy.

That might sound like a lot of work, but don’t worry. Often it takes just a few minutes. I rarely get bogged down for hours by doing a little day by day. The to do list doesn’t include things like get up, get dressed, go to class. It just includes things outside of the ordinary that I might forget or push aside because they are not a part of the normal routine. Here is what my belly dance to do list might look like for a week:

Monday

Must Complete: choreography for next month’s intermediate class, pick out music for show on Saturday, proofing program ad, redo elastic on zils

Must start: blocking routine for Saturday,

Must advance: write a chapter for upcoming book

Tuesday:

Must complete: blog post

Must start: nothing

Must advance: choreography for show on Saturday, return call for potential gig

Wednesday:

Must complete: choreography for show on Saturday, return contract for gig

Must start: tweak group choreography for new gig, cut music to fit timeslot for new gig

Must advance: write a chapter for upcoming book

Thursday:

Must complete: lunch with colleague, blog

Must start: nothing

Must advance: touch base with contact I met at a workshop to see if she still is interested in that project we talked about,

You can see that if you complete this itty bitty to do list, at the end of the week you will have written two blog posts, two book chapters, made a bunch of business contacts, taken care of costuming maintenance issues as well as business maintenance issues. You spent very little time each day on your tasks and can relax on the weekend because you know that things are taken care of.

If you are working full time in addition to dancing and this seems ambitious for you, tweak it to fit the time you have. Make Monday through Friday the days that you only do things that must be done. Shift your other work to the weekends. Instead of blogging, tweet. That takes a lot less time but can still give you a presence. Instead of writing two book chapters per week, make it a goal to do one newsletter per month. Your to do list should reflect your business goals and objectives, not stress you out or make you feel like you aren’t doing enough.

Are your beauty products poisoning you? If you buy the most popular brands, the answer is most likely “yes!” If you are like me, you think that if something is for sale, it’s been proven safe. Not so. The government doesn’t routinely test for ingredients used in beauty products unless they are classified as “drugs.” (If the manufacturer makes health claims for a product, it is classified as a drug. For example, a product designed to clean your face called “soap” is not subject to safety testing, however if the same product is said to be good for acne or is an anti-aging bar, it is now a drug).

So, what toxins are routinely found in bath, body, and makeup products? How about lead and arsenic! Yes, while they aren’t on lipstick and eye liner labels, they are commonly found in these products. Cadmium and nickel (heavy metals) are often found in blush, foundation, and eye shadow. Parabens are preservatives. They have been found to disrupt hormones. They are also linked to obesity and diabetes. Formaldehyde is a toxic preservative that is found in 20% of all personal care and cosmetics in the USA. I could go on, but you get the idea. Toxins are everywhere- nail polish, shampoo, sunscreen, deodorant, tooth paste, hair coloring, perfume, blush, and more.

So what’s a girl to do to stay beautiful in a toxic world? If you want specific information about a product or ingredient, you can check it out here at SkinDeep. If you just want to be safer, here are some tips.

Avoid all sunscreen. Yes, you heard me right. Wear a hat. Stay out of the sun. Before the invention of sun tan lotion and sunscreen, the incidence of skin cancer was minimal. Since then, it’s gotten higher and higher every year. It truly appears that sunscreen doesn’t prevent sun cancer at all. We do know that the ingredients used to manufacture it are toxic, however. Since the skin acts as a superhighway to the interior, what you put on it, goes directly to your system. Don’t be fooled into thinking that microscopic amounts of toxins don’t matter. Ebola and typhoid are microscopic.

Avoid all antiperspirants. Use a natural, aluminum-free deodorant. Beware. Some crystal deodorants have aluminum in them.

Avoid all fragrances. This doesn’t mean you can’t have scent. “Fragrance” is a term used to describe chemically derived scents. They almost always contain parabens. Use something made with essential oils instead. These won’t have the staying power or strength as chemical scents, but they will be safer.

Wash your face every morning and every night. Even if you use no toxic products, pollutants from the air can enter through the skin. It’s best to wash them off.

Treat with suspicion any product labeled natural or organic. They call this “green screening.” It’s a tactic used to lull you into a false sense of safety. Neither term is synonymous with safety. Botulism is natural, after all. Some toxic ingredients are organic.

Go ‘poo-less! Baking soda is an inexpensive, effective way to gain peace of mind. There is a learning curve for you and your hair. Your hair won’t smell like a field of lavender, but you will be healthier.

Make your own products. I got into making my own soap, face cream, lotion, lip balm, shampoo and more because I couldn’t find products that met my standard for being toxin-free. Even brands that looked okay on the surface turned out to be less safe than I wanted after doing a bit of research. You will always have peace of mind if you do it yourself.